Best and Worst Performances

[moon-bass]

I've been to waaaaaay too many great shows to list, but some of the highlights include Bruce Springsteen with Tom Morello, the first three Lollapalooza shows (Soundgarden playing Cop Killer live for the first time?!?!?!?!?!) ... Queen with Adam Lambert was way beyond what I expected, Paul Simon, Iron Maiden ... a ton of hair metal shows back in the day, several 311 days ...

I can honestly only remember one show that was actually bad, and it wasn't the artist's fault - Les Claypool's Bastard Jazz. I was right in front of Les, but the sound was horrible - his amp was bleeding into a mic and it was just noise most of the time - couldn't hear his playing at all, couldn't understand a word he said. The only show that I actually walked out on.

 

[walking Bass]

Yup, old indeed.

I need to add a very late (45 minutes) and stoned David Crosby. This was as a solo act.

 

[PennyroyalWe]

I’ll just call out the top ones that stick out to me.

Best:
Mark Broussard & Los Lonely Boys - this was my first “real” concert, and they both did great.
Dave Matthews Band - I didn’t give 2 hooties or a blowfish about DMB until I saw them live. Fantastic show.

Worst:
Nelly…or Shaggy. - saw both at the fair, and both were the same lame show. Playing a backing track, half-assed lazy song along that was mostly carried by their hype men, and even still they only do maybe half of each song. Shaggy’s was worse, I’d say, just because in between songs he would essentially sexually harass the entire audience. For being a wash up has-been he sure thinks a lot of himself.

 

[bassicmike]

Disappointing... Johnny Winter...but it wasn't his fault.
As a HUGE fan, I wanted the white haired demon jumping around and tearing the guts out of a Tbird!
What I got was a frail guy, setting in a chair, playing that damn little Razor.
I just waited to long.

I never saw Johnny when he was that infirm.

I saw him about half a dozen times in the late 70s and early 80s.

On. Fire.

First with the JW Captured Live band. I should post this one in the Loud Concert thread. But insane good show.

Saw him when he toured with Muddy Waters and James Cotton (who absolutely stole the show). But that was cool...Johnny was great and happy to let the legends shine.

And then a bunch of club dates from the front row. The Firebird into a cranked Twin - blues guitar nirvana.

Seeing him sitting in a chair just made me incredibly sad.

 

[Pings Bass]

After years of concerts there are some that truly stand out. Here are my best:

1. Lou Rawls - saw his act in Las Vegas and it felt like he was talking directly to you during the whole concert. Smooth and perfect.
2. James Brown - saw him in Minneapolis in the late 60s - perfect band and unrivaled energy.
3. Richie Havens - saw him twice in tiny venues - Cambridge, Mass and Redwood City, CA - it felt like you got a great big hug.
4. Yo Yo Ma - many times with the SF Symphony - the greatest and most joyous musician I've ever seen or heard.
5. (Nigel) Kennedy - Played the Brahm's violin concerto with SF Symphony - a revelation. I never liked the piece until he played it.
6. Richard Thompson - saw him at the Mountain Winery - charisma and unmatched guitar talent.
7. Big Brother and Holding Co. w/ Janis Joplin - wow, everyone wanted to have sex with Janis just to have part of that energy.
8. BB King - great band and a wonderful guy.
9. Milton Nascimento - Brazil with a little jazz and joy.
10. Neville Brothers - they just keep cooking - funk and N.O. with a mellow soul.


The worst:

1. Bob Dylan - wouldn't let his band play and was dull and awkward.
2. Joni Mitchell - only sang new stuff, audience wanted her best, resulting in boos.
3. Van Morrison - gnome-like with no personality.
4. Eric Clapton - mailed in mediocrity.
5. Etta James - saw her twice - once in small SF club with pick-up band that sucked and once at a big SF hall where she came on late and played really slow ballads. Most people walked out.

Funny, I've got Dylan on both my best and worst lists. A couple stinkers in Portland and a transcendent show at Alpine Valley, Wisconsin ca. 1986-87.

And I was lucky to see the Nevilles several times. They always brought it.

 

[DaveParker39]

Best: Pink Floyd, 3 times during the Pulse tour. A transcendant, unforgettable experience.

The amount of things I would give including my own organs to have experienced the Pulse tour is rather large

 

[bassicmike]

Best:
Pink Floyd twice, 1975 and 1977
Jethro Tull 1975
Martin Barre 2017
Johnny Winter, see above
Gang of Four 1978
Yes 1977
Boston Symphony doing Rite of Spring
Pacifica Quartet doing Mendelssohn
MX-80 1980? I was one of 2 people in the room

Worst
Jean Luc Ponty crappy joyless lifeless fusion (and he had Tom Fowler on bass)
BSO Mahler's 9th Not their fault. there was some guy with a ventilator sitting behind us. Do you know what that sounds like in the perfect acoustics of Symphony Hall? It dominated the sound when it got real quiet.
Eric Clapton 461 Ocean Blvd tour 1975ish? He was a zombie.

 

[RandomKaren]

Disappointing... Johnny Winter...but it wasn't his fault.
As a HUGE fan, I wanted the white haired demon jumping around and tearing the guts out of a Tbird!
What I got was a frail guy, setting in a chair, playing that damn little Razor.
I just waited to long.

You did better than me - he was due to play a blues festival here in the UK but was too ill to perform, he did get helped on stage to apologise though and got huge applause.

 

[bassicmike]

The worst: Captain Beefheart, Cheap Trick

Wow.

I saw the Captain a couple of times, when he first came back doing clubs, and it was good. Excellent band for playing difficult material. But he could be temperamental. Saw him with Zappa where he sat on a folding chair on stage with a shopping bag most of the night.

We saw Cheap Trick on maybe their second tour, just before Budokan broke and they got huge. Great show.

 

[Bass Motifs]

Still on a high from Nile Rogers & Chic last year. Great vibes. Jerry Barnes was awesome of course.

James Brown about 2004 stands out. Total professional. You got a JB concert, exactly what you paid for.

And Stevie Wonder about 2008. What can you say? He's total music.

 

[TrevorR]

Soooooo many bests…

• Rush several times
• Genesis in 1982 in a small venue
• Public Service Broadcasting at the BBC Proms
• Thin Lizzy - 1981
• Paul Simon - Rhythm of the Saints tour
• Nerina Pallot x Regents Park open air theatre
• Nanci Griffith - Royal Albert Hall
• Big Country - 1982
• The Funk Brothers - Royal Festival Hall…

I’ve been quite lucky with headliners But my four worst bands were all supports…

Heavy Pettin’ supporting Magnum in the late 80s. Talk about a mismatch in styles. The lowest grade hair metal. Actively painful on the ears.

Speaking of painful on the ears… Dave Hole several times supporting Gary Moore. Australian slide guitarist but his schtick was playing with the slide way up beyond the fretboard creating almost ultrasonic sine wave tones. Once or twice in a set as a bit of stunt guitar would have been fine but every solo on every song! AAAAARGH!!!

Primus supporting Rush at Wembley. Was really looking forward to this but it really did sound like a bag of spanner’s being tipped down a stairwell. Went to the bar.

The Opposition - a doomy, gloomy goth type band who were second in the bill at Penwith Rocks ‘83. Rest of the lineup was great (Billy Bragg, Porky the Poet (I think), Renaissance, Chuck Berry, Aswad, 10cc, Meatloaf). But The Opposition were just unutterably dull.

And special mention for Brooke Fraser a really great Kiwi singer at The Scala. It looked like she was doing a great show but the sound was so bad that literally all you could hear was a huge bass drum and keyboard sub-bass swelling and booming around the room. Could barely hear any vocals and for all I could tell the guitar player may as well have been miming without his amp turned on. I literally did not hear a note he played all night. Hugely disappointing

 

[walking Bass]

Joni was at the same concert in San Jose in the mid-90s as Bob Dylan and Van Morrison. Three artists I'd always liked, so I scored front row tickets. They were each truly awful. I think most of Van's vocals were from a guy in back with a mike and no lights. Dylan was monotonous and unskilled. Joni was eventually booed.

 

[jnewmark]

Wow.

I saw the Captain a couple of times, when he first came back doing clubs, and it was good. Excellent band for playing difficult material. But he could be temperamental. Saw him with Zappa where he sat on a folding chair on stage with a shopping bag most of the night.

We saw Cheap Trick on maybe their second tour, just before Budokan broke and they got huge. Great show.

No worries. I saw Beefheart in the early days. He had a woman scraping a violin endlessly, with a stage full of people making other noises on various instruments for 45 minutes. He literally got booed off the stage. I was in a band that opened for Cheap Trick, this was in the ‘90’s. Each guy in the band had his own trailer, they were not talking to each other. On stage I heard the singer turn around and yell, “ What the @#$& are you doing?” They were so loud that I had to put in earplugs, and I was backstage.

 

[jerry]

Joni was at the same concert in San Jose in the mid-90s as Bob Dylan and Van Morrison. Three artists I'd always liked, so I scored front row tickets. They were each truly awful. I think most of Van's vocals were from a guy in back with a mike and no lights. Dylan was monotonous and unskilled. Joni was eventually booed.

Wow, booing Joni, I can't even imagine. Where her vocals bad or just the set list that set them off?

 

[Enrique M]

Best:
Iron Maiden (Book of Souls and Legacy of the Beast tours)
Judas Priest (Firepower, 50th, and Invincible Shield tours)
Queensryche (2022, support for Priest)
Sammy Hagar/Michael Anthony/Jason Bonham/Joe Satriani (Best of All Worlds Tour)
Robert Cray Band (Nothin' But Love Tour)
Jimmie Vaughan & Tilt a Whirl Band (BB & F Tour)
Glenn Hughes (2023 Tour co-headlining with Yngwie Malmsteen)
Robin Trower (Where You Are Going To Tour)

Worst:
Bob Dylan (2005) (seriously this was the show)
Metallica (St. Anger Tour) (honestly, Godsmack's opening set was energetically and musically superior)
Yngwie Malmsteen (2023 Tour co-headlining with Glenn Hughes) (I love Yngwie but good god this was a comedy of errors, especially in comparison to Glenn Hughes' set)


There's a bunch that fall in the middle. I saw Van Halen in 04 on what was, by all accounts, a disaster tour, but they had a decent night and it was early in the tour.

I literally just walked in the door from that Priest show, which was last night in Spokane. Halford still has it. And the selections on the set list were simply stunning. Although, I guess that is what you can do with 50 years of rock solid jams to choose from.

Also gonna agree with you placing Priest just below Maiden. Not only is Maiden's classic line up still together and still doing their thing. Their sound engineers were a notch or two above those for Priest. Venue was the same. Maiden sounded like the record, every moment, every jam.

 

[Hot Rats]

Bests:
Bruce Dickenson/Geezer - 1997
Metallica - 1982 Dave Mustaine still in the band, Cliff's second gig.
Black Sabbath/Ozzy reunion show 1992 Pacific Ampitheater. Rob Halford sang for Black Sabbath, then Black Sabbath did 4 songs w/Ozzy together. I lost my mind.
The Who- 1982 and then years later, Quadrophenia
Iron Maiden - many times over the years but 1982 w/the Scorpions NOTB/Blackout tour is the standout
AC/DC many times over the years but FTATR tour is the standout
Rush - many times over the years but Signals is the standout.
Grateful Dead - many times over the years
Yes - Many times over the years
Black Sabbath - many times over the years but Born Again is the standout. I missed Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules tours.
Pink Floyd - many times over the years
Roger Waters - 4 times over the years
Ringo Starr and his Allstar band -3 times
Jeff Beck/ Stevie Ray Vaughan - 1989
Robin Trower - 1989
Black Crowes -many times over the years


Worst:

Black Crowes - a few times over the years
Aerosmith - 2001
Ted Nugent
Grateful Dead - a few times over the years
Y&T - 1985


Waiting for the people to talk about seeing Hendrix.

 

[Enrique M]

Best:

Iron Maiden (Legacy of the Beast)
Public Enemy (They were on the Zootopia Tour with U2, but did a side gig solo at a club)

Honorable Mention:

Bunny Wailer. Small venue, got right up front.


Worst:

Ice-Cube #1
Ice-Cube #2

Both times, sound was fine. Both times, he might have played for 45 minutes, maybe... I bet one was closer to 30.

 

[jerry]

Bests:
Bruce Dickenson/Geezer - 1997
Metallica - 1982 Dave Mustaine still in the band, Cliff's second gig.
Black Sabbath/Ozzy reunion show 1992 Pacific Ampitheater. Rob Halford sang for Black Sabbath, then Black Sabbath did 4 songs w/Ozzy together. I lost my mind.
The Who- 1982 and then years later, Quadrophenia
Iron Maiden - many times over the years but 1982 w/the Scorpions NOTB/Blackout tour is the standout
AC/DC many times over the years but FTATR tour is the standout
Rush - many times over the years but MP and Signals are the standouts.
Grateful Dead - many times over the years
Yes - Many times over the years
Black Sabbath - many times over the years but Born Again is the standout. I missed Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules tours.
Pink Floyd - many times over the years
Roger Waters - 4 times over the years
Ringo Starr and his Allstar band -3 times
Jeff Beck/ Stevie Ray Vaughan - 1989
Robin Trower - 1989
Black Crowes -many times over the years


Worst:

Black Crowes - a few times over the years
Aerosmith - 2001
Ted Nugent
Grateful Dead - a few times over the years
Y&T - 1985


Waiting for the people to talk about seeing Hendrix.

I saw the Hendrix Band of Gypsies at the Fillmore East when I was 14, they were great and probably set my destiny.

 

[DWBass]

I don't go to a lot of concerts but most have been pretty good. The ones that sucked were due to the sound. Either way too loud or no balance between the instruments. Just everything on 11. Saw The Rippingtons in Norfolk some years ago and FOH had the bass so frikkin' loud and boomy, it was unbearable. I tried to get the sound person's attention but I was ignored. I walked out and gave him the finger! Went to a Funk Festival show at The Hampton Coliseum and it was just a wall of sound. I walked out again.

Never had this issue back in the day!! During the late 80's and early 90's, I regularly went to the Beacon Theater in Manhattan, NY to see smooth jazz acts. Awesome sound and instrument balance. What a joyful time.

 

[Ostie]

Best:
Little Feat—saw them twice before Lowell George passed. A fabulous American roots rock band.
Paul Simon—In the late 1980s and he played highlights from Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints with a 17-piece band.
Psychedelic Furs—saw them twice in the 1980s. The fact that I saw them and Little Feat twice tells you all you need to know.
Buddy Guy at an outdoor festival when I had VIP seats. Also saw Bg Bad Voodoo Daddy and Blues Traveler at the same venue, in the same seats. They were very good.

Worst: hard to say because I can usually find something I like about any band….but…..
The Clash ca. 1985 was so loud it was painful, and it really ruined my experience cuz they were one of my favorite bands of the 70s/80s.
The Who at Pontiac Silverdome, 1975. Loud, muddy outdated music. The only saving grace was Toots and the Maytals opened, and I became a fan for life that day.
Jefferson Starship with Papa John Creach ca. 1975. If it wasn’t for Papa John it would have been a total waste of time.